India’s investments at 10-year low in 2015: World Bank

Washington, June 14 (IANS) India recorded a decadal low in combined public-private investments in 2015, in line with a contraction seen in other emerging economies like China and Brazil, the World Bank has said.

“India recorded a 10-year low in investments, as only six road projects, usually a rich source of PPI over the past 10 years, reached financial closure,” the World Bank said in its latest annual report – Private Participation in Infrastructure Database – released here on Monday.

The report said global investment in 2015 decreased to $111.6 billion, going below the five-year average of $124.1 billion from 2010 to 2014.

“This contraction resulted from lower investments in Brazil, China and India,” the World Bank said, adding that global private infrastructure investment in 2015, though on par with the previous year, was 10 per cent lower than the previous five-year average because of falling commitments in China, Brazil, and India.

“The data finds that investments in other emerging economies increased rapidly to $99.9 billion, representing a 92 per cent year-over-year increase,” said Clive Harris, practice manager (Public-Private Partnerships) in the World Bank.

Commitments in Brazil last year were only for $4.5 billion, which was a sharp decline from $47.2 billion the previous year, reversing a trend of growing investments, the report said.

“Investment in China also fell significantly below its 5-, 10-, and 20-year averages, as the average transaction dropped to $63 million,” it added.

By number of projects, however, the three major emerging economies took the lead, with 131 of the 300 global deals, or 44 per cent of all projects. Yet their combined investment of $11.6 billion only made up 10 per cent of the global total, compared to 54 per cent in 2014, which was also the annual average over the previous four years, World Bank said.